Motorola Moto G86 VS ZTE Nubia Air

The Motorola Moto G86 and the ZTE Nubia Air both feature waterproof designs with an IP68 rating, ensuring they are resistant to water and dust. In terms of weight, the Moto G86 is slightly heavier at 185 g, while the Nubia Air weighs 172 g, making it a bit lighter. When it comes to thickness, the Nubia Air is thinner at 6.7 mm compared to the Moto G86's 7.8 mm.

For their physical dimensions, the Moto G86 measures 74.7 mm in width and 161.2 mm in height, with a volume of 93.92 cm³. On the other hand, the Nubia Air is slightly wider at 76.6 mm, and it stands at 164.2 mm tall. Its volume is smaller, at 84.27 cm³.

Both phones do not have a rugged build, and neither can be folded, as indicated by their specifications. Overall, the design differences are subtle, with the Nubia Air being lighter and thinner, while the Moto G86 is slightly larger in size and heavier.

Both the Motorola Moto G86 and the ZTE Nubia Air feature OLED/AMOLED displays, offering vibrant colors and deep blacks. The Moto G86 has a slightly smaller screen size at 6.67″, while the Nubia Air is marginally larger at 6.78″. In terms of pixel density, the Moto G86 has 446 ppi, while the Nubia Air has 440 ppi, meaning the Moto G86 has a very slight edge in sharpness.

Both devices share the same 120Hz refresh rate, providing smooth scrolling and gaming experiences. The Moto G86 supports a higher level of HDR, including HDR10 and HDR10+, while the Nubia Air only supports HDR10. Additionally, the Moto G86’s screen resolution is 1220 x 2712 px, while the Nubia Air has a slightly different resolution of 1224 x 2720 px, resulting in very similar but slightly differing display characteristics.

Both phones feature Gorilla Glass 7i for damage resistance, and both support touch input. The Moto G86 does not support Always-On Display, while the Nubia Air does. Neither device supports Dolby Vision or has a secondary screen.

The Motorola Moto G86 and the ZTE Nubia Air both feature 256GB of internal storage and 8GB of RAM. The Moto G86 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset, while the Nubia Air uses the Unisoc T8300 chipset. The Moto G86 has a higher CPU speed, with 4 cores at 2.5 GHz and 4 cores at 2 GHz, compared to the Nubia Air's 2 cores at 2.2 GHz and 6 cores at 2 GHz.

In Geekbench 6 tests, the Moto G86 outperforms the Nubia Air with a multi-core score of 2932, compared to the Nubia Air’s 2221. The Moto G86 also has a higher single-core score of 1026, while the Nubia Air scores 908. Regarding GPU performance, the Moto G86’s Mali G615 MC2 has a clock speed of 1047 MHz, whereas the Nubia Air’s Mali-G57 MP2 runs at 950 MHz, giving the Moto G86 a slight advantage in GPU speed.

The Moto G86 features faster RAM with a speed of 6400 MHz, while the Nubia Air has RAM running at 2133 MHz. The Moto G86 also benefits from a more advanced 4 nm semiconductor size, compared to the Nubia Air’s 6 nm process. Both devices support 64-bit processing, have integrated LTE and graphics, and use big.LITTLE technology with 8 CPU threads. Both phones also support one display each.

The Motorola Moto G86 features a dual-lens main camera with 50 MP and 8 MP sensors, while the ZTE Nubia Air has a 50 MP and 2 MP dual-lens main camera. Both devices have a 20 MP and 32 MP front camera setup, respectively. The Moto G86’s main camera can record video in 2160p at 30 fps, while the Nubia Air is limited to 1080p at 30 fps. Both phones support slow-motion video recording, continuous autofocus during movie recording, and phase-detection autofocus for photos.

In terms of camera features, both the Moto G86 and the Nubia Air have similar functionalities, such as a flash, manual exposure control, manual ISO, serial shot mode, manual focus, touch autofocus, and the ability to create panoramas in-camera. The Moto G86 includes additional capabilities like optical image stabilization and a front-facing LED flash, which the Nubia Air lacks. Both phones also support timelapse, but neither supports HDR10 or Dolby Vision recording.

While the Moto G86’s camera has a slightly more advanced main camera configuration with its 8 MP secondary sensor, the Nubia Air’s camera setup still offers solid functionality, including features like manual white balance and the ability to shoot panoramas. Both phones lack features like laser autofocus, 3D photo/video recording, and a front-facing camera under the display.

Both the Motorola Moto G86 and the ZTE Nubia Air run on Android 15 and share many similar features in their operating system. Both devices support clipboard warnings, location privacy options, camera/microphone privacy options, theme customization, app tracking blocking, on-device machine learning, notification permissions, and media picker functionality. They also allow for playing games while they download, dark mode, battery health checks, extra dim mode, dynamic theming, app offloading, customizable notifications, Live Text, full-page screenshots, and split-screen support.

Neither device supports direct OS updates, and both lack focus modes, Wi-Fi password sharing, and Quick Start. The Moto G86 and Nubia Air both feature PiP (Picture-in-Picture) mode, child lock functionality, widgets, offline voice recognition, voice commands, and tracking the device's current position. Both are multi-user systems and free and open-source. They also support sharing intents and have a child lock.

The Moto G86 and Nubia Air offer almost identical OS features, with no significant differences noted between them. The only feature explicitly missing from both devices is the ability to receive direct OS updates, and neither device has the Quick Start feature. Overall, the software experience is nearly the same across both phones.

The Motorola Moto G86 and the ZTE Nubia Air both come with non-removable, rechargeable batteries. The Moto G86 has a 5200 mAh battery, while the Nubia Air is slightly smaller with a 5000 mAh battery. Both phones support fast charging, though the Moto G86 charges at 30W, while the Nubia Air offers a slightly faster 33W charging speed.

Neither device features wireless charging, and both have a battery level indicator, allowing users to monitor their battery status easily. In terms of battery management, both phones support the same core functionality, including rechargeable batteries and the ability to charge at fast speeds, though the Nubia Air offers a slight edge in charging speed.

Overall, the differences between the two devices in terms of battery capacity and charging speed are minimal, with the Moto G86 offering a larger battery and the Nubia Air supporting faster charging.

Both the Motorola Moto G86 and the ZTE Nubia Air lack a 3.5 mm audio jack, meaning users will need to rely on wireless audio or USB-C headphones. The Moto G86, however, features stereo speakers, providing a richer sound experience compared to the Nubia Air, which does not have stereo speakers.

Neither device supports advanced Bluetooth audio technologies such as aptX, LDAC, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, or aptX Lossless, meaning both phones offer a standard audio performance when it comes to wireless audio playback.

In summary, the Moto G86 offers stereo speakers, which the Nubia Air lacks, but both phones have the same limitations in terms of Bluetooth audio codecs.

Both the Motorola Moto G86 and the ZTE Nubia Air support 5G connectivity and feature USB Type-C ports with USB 2.0, as well as Bluetooth, NFC, and GPS. The Moto G86 offers more versatile connectivity with Wi-Fi support for Wi-Fi 4, Wi-Fi 5, and Wi-Fi 6, while the Nubia Air only supports Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5. In terms of SIM options, the Moto G86 supports 1 SIM and 1 eSIM, while the Nubia Air supports 2 physical SIM cards.

Both phones include a fingerprint scanner, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a compass, and support for Galileo. They also lack certain advanced features like a barometer, infrared sensor, HDMI output, 3D facial recognition, iris scanner, motion tracking, optical tracking, and a built-in projector. Neither device supports emergency SOS via satellite or crash detection.

Other notable differences include the Moto G86’s support for an external memory slot, which the Nubia Air lacks. The Moto G86 also benefits from Bluetooth 5.3, while the Nubia Air uses Bluetooth 5.4. While both phones offer similar core features, the Moto G86 provides more Wi-Fi options and an additional external memory slot.

Both the Motorola Moto G86 and the ZTE Nubia Air come with a video light, which can be useful for photography or video recording in low-light conditions. Neither device features a sapphire glass display, a curved display, nor an e-paper display, meaning both phones have traditional display types without the added benefits of these advanced technologies.

In summary, both phones share the same capabilities in this group, with the only notable feature being the inclusion of a video light in both devices. The lack of sapphire glass, curved displays, and e-paper displays means that neither phone stands out in these particular areas.